


Hollowed Shield

by StrongheartMaid



Series: The Damaged Shields of Lucis [2]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Episode Gladio, Gladio whump, Multi, involuntary medical experiments to turn one into an MT
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-19
Updated: 2018-01-20
Packaged: 2019-03-06 23:42:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13422117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrongheartMaid/pseuds/StrongheartMaid
Summary: Something went dreadfully wrong after Gladio returned from the Tempering Grounds..





	1. It begins..

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Raufnir](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raufnir/gifts).



There was an odd stiffness in his left arm when he awoke the first morning after reuniting with the small group after the Trials. But, he was a swordsman and he had been fighting a very strong foe so it was only logical that his body would be feeling it. Probably once he started moving the feeling would die away and he’d be able to get back to his duties - even if it meant dealing with a still pissy prince (no, king - Noctis was his king now). Okay, so he may have fucked up by taking off without saying a thing because his pride had gotten stung by that fight with Ravus and he may have gotten a few new scars out of it (one of which Ignis had pointedly slapped before breaking a potion over it to jumpstart the healing process). But it was worth it, wasn’t it?

“Well, well, if it isn’t the wandering warrior,” came an accented voice, greeting him when he emerged from the tent.

Gladio let out a small snort at that. “Can it, Iggy,” he drawled in return. He felt himself momentarily boggle when he saw that.. Noctis was already awake… What the ever loving ever loving? Did he just traverse into bizarro world because when did the prince ever wake up before him?

“I’d say mornin’ big guy, if it wasn’t already, ya know, the afternoon,” Prompto said, looking up from the screen on his camera. A look of something swept his features before he subtly shook his head. Nope, had to be seeing things.

Noctis raised his eyes from his phone and gave his Shield a very pointed look. “No complaining about my sleeping when you slept the entire morning away,” he said, a note of something in his voice.

“You could’ve woke me,” Gladio retorted.

“We tried. You were sleeping like the dead, big guy,” Prompto said, the look of something returning.

Gladio opened his mouth to say something but closed it, shaking his head. “So, game plan?” he asked, moving to sit in his usual camping chair and taking a bowl of whatever Ignis had made in his right hand.

Ignis nodded and handed the bowls over to Prompto and Noctis before he settled back into the camp chair. “I suppose a hunt wouldn’t be amiss since it will take some time for Cid to adhere the mythril we went hunting–

"You what?” Gladio said, moving into a more hunched position as he looked at the other three. “Tell me you didn’t do something–

"If you say asinine, I will remind you that the Chancellor in all his infinite,” which earned a small snort from Noctis, “wisdom,” and a muttered “still don’t trust that slimy sahagin” from Prompto, “had one of his Dragoons helping us. You recall Miss Aranea?”

“Yeah, unfortunately. He had her helping?” Gladio asked, a faint grumble in his voice.

“That he did, although, I do find his motives still rather suspect,” Ignis said, leaning back and taking a small bite of his meal.

Gladio nodded, grateful that Ignis was finding this suspicious as well. He mentally cursed at the fact that his arm was still so stiff and uncooperative - but he wasn’t about to say a damn thing. Didn’t need the others worrying.

“So big guy, how was it fighting the Blademaster?” Prompto asked, his curiosity bubbling up.

“Hard,” he said, the scar on his forehead throbbing a moment in reminder.

“Musta been,” Noctis said, speaking up again. “You’re going white at your temples..”

"If that's some kind of joke," Gladio growled softly. All right - so there might have been a ding to his vanity with that comment (not that he would ever confess to that, mind you) but he wasn't really in the mood.

"Hey, I know better than to tease you about your looks, peacock," Noctis drawled.

Gladio narrowed his eyes at that. "Watch it, princess," he said, a little irritation in his voice.

"Actually, Noctis is quite right in his assessment," Ignis said and made for his bag to fish out the mirror he used for shaving. "Just don't break it, it belonged to my late uncle," he added quietly.

Gladio quietly took the mirror after he set his bowl down. He snorted once and made his way for the tent. He sat down, took a steadying breath and looked into the mirror. "Son of a.." he breathed, taking in his hair, which yes, was more than just white at the temples. Shit, bloody fucking hell what was going on? He winced a moment, a sudden pain flaring behind his eyes. He closed them tightly and..

_“Ardyn, I swear to Etro, would you,” you groan out, covering your amber eyes with your right hand. If you don’t see it, it didn’t, wasn’t happening. No, you aren’t going to look - you really and truly aren’t. You know your friend is getting into some new form of trouble and you really.. You are regretting looking - you really are. “Ardyn,” you groan out again, a pained note in your voice._

_“Oh, do lighten up,” Ardyn tells you, tapping you on the nose, causing you to wrinkle it ever so slightly. “It’s just a baby.”_

_“Oh, just a baby,” you say sarcastically. “That makes me feel oh so much better about **you** petting a **courel**!”_

_“Hush now, you’ll scare the poor dear,” Ardyn responds, crooning soft nonsense to the baby in his arms._

_You cast your amber eyes heavenwards, silently praying to one of the Astrals to smite you - a death by them would be a small mercy compared to the daily death you endure every time Ardyn pulls some fantastically dangerous stunt. “Now that you’ve pet the courel and scared a few more years off the end of my life, perhaps we should be moving on?” you ask, trying to lure your friend back into what he’s supposed to be doing._

_“Oh, I suppose, Gil,” he says with a resigned sigh and sets the baby courel back on the ground, softly telling it to go back to their mother. Thankfully, (and probably to Ardyn’s vast disappointment), the small courel does exactly that._

_You breath a small sigh of relief before pulling out a whistle and blowing a familiar melody. A soft smile crosses your lips automatically at the sheer delight Ardyn takes in seeing his beloved black chocobo racing over to him and promptly plowing him over, head over heels to the ground. “And here lies the great healer, killed by his beloved chocobo because he can not remember to step out of the way,” you tease._

_Ardyn chuckles low and deep as he reaches up to stroke the inky feathers..._

Gladio shook his head, trying to clear it. "What the hell was that?" he whispered to himself before heading back out to rejoin the others, dismissing the odd vision as nothing he should be worrying about.


	2. Days later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things start to take a small turn for the worse

_You awake in an unfamiliar place, and you wonder how much Ardyn let you drink the night before. You run a hand over your face, wondering for a moment where the scars came from - you couldn’t remember getting them. No matter, best get up and see what Ardyn has gotten into **now**. (You swear that man will be the death of you.) You stretch and rise from the ground, stepping out and seeing.. You pause, trying to figure out where you are. You don’t recall arriving here so Ardyn must have plied you with the good stuff. Again. You groan at the thought of having to try and find him with the world’s worst hangover - that's the only way to explain the splitting headache and the lack of memory of the night before. You blink your eyes, trying to adjust to the harsh sunlight when you spy.. You freeze - unsure of what is going on. Why is your godson, Orfeo, here? Never mind the fact that the Scientia boy (and once more you forgot that poor boy's name - no matter, it'll come to you soon enough) is here with him - you never thought that youngster would ever leave the safety of the palace’s library. The blond is unfamiliar - but he seems close to Orfeo (and it is a welcome thought to see Orfeo making friends - the poor child is always so alone)._

_“Orfeo, where is your father?” you ask, making your way over to him with long striding steps._

_The look of confusion on Orfeo’s face sends a chill down your spine._

\- 

“Ignis?” Noctis asked quietly, turning to look at his advisor. “You understand anything Gladio just said?”

A tight smile crossed his features as Ignis mulled over what Gladio asked. That was Lucian, he was sure of it - but the wording was all wrong. It was far too old, even for Gladio to know. Well, granted Gladio had spent two summers doing those ancient Lucian history courses for sheer pleasure so he shouldn’t be too surprised that Gladio could speak it but still, he had shown no sign of being able to speak it until just now.

“Um, not to butt in but ah, who’s Orfeo?” Prompto asked, looking at the other two in sheer confusion. Okay, so maybe he slept through one or two history classes but well.. Ancient Lucian history could be just so dry.

Ignis and Noctis exchanged looks with Noctis giving Ignis a slow nod.

Ignis took a steadying breath and spoke. “Orfeo is the name of the Accursed’s son.”

\- 

_There’s a tone to the Scientia child’s words that send that chill back down your spine - even if you can not fully make out what he is saying. Accursed? Who is that? Why does Orfeo look so pissed at hearing that? “Orfeo?” you repeat, trying to get his attention again. “Orfeo, talk to me,” you say, softening your voice, hoping to coax him into explaining. There’s a moment of sheer panic - if Orfeo and the Scientia child are here with this strange youth, where is your son? Where is the one that is supposed to be protecting Orfeo?_

\- 

“Okay, so uh,” Prompto started, floundering for a moment. “I’m assuming he thinks Noctis is this Orfeo fellow? But, uh, why?”

“How should I know,” Noctis bit out, a distinct wave of irritation welling up in him. He wasn’t quite sure why he was - wait, and as Ignis’s uncle would say, scratch that and reverse - he knew exactly why he was irritated. Being called by the name of the son of the man who was part of the reason everything had gone to shit was just the capper on an already shitty day.

Ignis placed a calming hand on Noctis’s shoulder. “We might as well humor Gladio for now until we can figure out what’s going on. How well do you remember your ancient Lucian?”

Noctis made a disgruntled noise. “Not nearly enough, but I could try and get through a conversation without flubbing too badly and insulting him… I hope.”

“Do the best you can, I’ll coach you if you need it,” he said.

-  
_“Sorry,” Orfeo’s apologizing. “You.. you caught me off guard.”_

_You nod. Still not happy that your son is not there, not doing his sacred duty. Hopefully your second son hasn’t hared off on some misguided trip and is there to guard Ælianus (Astrals know that boy needs all the help he can get). “All right,” you say, reaching over and placing your right hand on his shoulder. “Now, where is your father?”_

_There’s a flicker of something in Orfeo’s eyes when you ask and you get the feeling you really don’t want to hear the answer._

_“I..” He pauses and shoots a helpless look at the Scientia boy again. He steadies himself after seeing the nod and taking part in that strange silent conversation they always seem to find themselves having. “Father is somewhere..”_

_You aren’t exactly thrilled to hear that. “Did he tell you where he was going?” you ask, your grip tightening on Orfeo’s shoulder._

_Orfeo glares up at you - catching you off guard. How did you miss the falling out between father and son? “Orfeo?” you ask, gentling your voice. No use in yelling at him - you didn’t want to scare him, especially without gentle Rhonwen, your blessed flower, at your side to provide much needed comfort. “Please, I need to help your father if he’s gotten into trouble.” What Orfeo says next stuns you._

_“He can go fuck himself for all I care,” he snarls, furious._

_You barely acknowledge the fact that you’re doing it, your body reacting at the insult given to his father. The sound of your right hand cracking against his face is the only sound that fills the newly fallen silence of the clearing._

\- 

Noctis stared at Gladio, tears filling his ocean blue eyes and he stumbled backwards, falling into Ignis’s waiting arms.

“Whoa,” Prompto breathed softly.

Ignis comforted Noctis, murmuring soothing nonsense to him, his deep green eyes boring deeply into Gladio’s amber eyes. Whatever was going on with Gladio was not amusing anymore. “Prompto, take Noctis to the Regalia,” Ignis said quietly, coaxing Noctis to move to his friend. “I’ll deal with this.” He waited until Noctis and Prompto were out of view before he rounded furiously on Gladio, his green eyes sparking with ill-concealed rage. “You are his Shield, Gladiolus Chrysanthus Amicitia,” he snarled. “Although, I’m beginning to question that given that you hared off on a fool’s quest in an attempt to get stronger without a word of why you doing this or where you were going or when you would be back. A true Shield would have at least said something before leaving so we would not be spending hours worrying about you nor would Noctis be thinking that he did something so catastrophically wrong that you were so ashamed of him that you left because you were disgusted with him.” He took a steadying breath, trying to will his temper back into check and found himself failing miserably.

\- 

_Anatolius - that was it. That is the name of the Scientia boy that is friends with Orfeo. You honestly couldn’t believe you had forgotten that fact. You pause, a look of confusion wells up on your features, you’re sure of it. What is he talking about? Who is Gladiolus? There’s this faint voice in the back of your thoughts - wait, is that the name of the child that came to challenge you? You frown slightly, mentally shaking yourself. No, that isn’t right, is it? Why would this Gladiolus challenge you? No matter - you'll figure it out later._

_“Are you lecturing me, boy?” you ask, your voice hardening ever so slightly. You would tolerate him to a point but should he overstep, you would be quick to remind him of his.._

\- 

Ignis backhanded Gladio, the sound of his hand connecting with Gladio’s face filling the air. He took a steadying breath, trying to compose himself. He looked over at Gladio, who was slowly shaking his head.

“The hell was that for?” Gladio asked, rubbing his jaw with his right hand.

Ignis stared at him as if he had lost his mind (and quite frankly, Ignis was sure Gladio *had*). “You recall nothing of what just happened?” he asked incredulously.

“Wouldn’t be asking if I knew, now would I,” Gladio drawled in return.

Ignis studied him and let out a wearied sigh. “You lost your mind, spoke ancient Lucian and when Noctis gave you an answer that you apparently disliked, you slapped him so hard that I’m hoping you didn’t break his jaw.”

Gladio stared, horrorstricken. “I.. What? Ignis, this ain’t the time for jokes like that.”

“I assure you that I am not joking, Gladiolus,” he bit out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay for creating family trees out of thin air? And it's going to get a bit worse the further this goes..


End file.
